The Thieves' Code
by Betty More Fishe
Summary: When Red X is being attacked by assasins and bounty hunters all trying to kill him, will the Teen Titans help him?


Red X was getting his ass kicked, and no it wasn't the Titans doing the kicking. The Teen Titans had just arrived, after receiving a call for a major disturbance. They didn't know what shocked them more, the fact that a large group of assassins and bounty hunters had snuck into their city, or the fact that they all seamed to be targeting Red X, who looked like he was about to lose this fight.

For a moment they stood and silently watched in shock as Red X dodged a barrage of bullets only to be hit with a knife to his arm. Red X ripped the knife from his arm, and threw the bloody blade at one of the bounty hunters, the knife caught in the man's gun, which was all sorts of illegal, and exploded in his face. Red X had dropped to the ground after throwing the knife and barely avoided the flames some meta-human assassin had thrown at where his chest had been. The flames still singed his back, forcing Red X to roll to put the flames out.

Red X rolled onto his feet and did several flips to avoid the knives being thrown at him, several of said knives hit the other assassins that where getting ready to get more hands on with the thief. It was at this point that Starfire asked, "Should we not be helping?"

Beast Boy made a whining noise and asked, "Who are we suppose to help, the bounty hunters or the thief?"

Raven said calmly, "I think we should help Red X, it is very obvious they are trying to kill him, and I don't think he's going to last much longer."

The words had barely left the empath's mouth when one of the larger bounty hunters managed to catch Red X in the side with a sledge hammer, and with a crack that could only mean broken bones, Red X was tossed into a brick wall, leaving a sizable dent. Robin saw Red X slump and several of the bounty hunters raised their weapons to fire at the thief so with a sigh Robin said, "Alright, Teen Titans! Go!"

The Teen Titans quickly split up, taking out most of the villains in one go, but the flying flame throwing meta-human seemed to also have some sort of invulnerability. Even when the whole team started working to knock the woman out, they just couldn't seem to get the drop on her, and were taking serious damage. Beast Boy took a blast to the chest and was effectively out of the picture, and Raven was trying to heal the third degree burns that were the result of the blast. It appeared as though the meta-human was absorbing Starfire's bolts and using them to power her own blasts, and Cyborg and Robin where having troubles getting close to the woman.

Robin had just managed to get a hit in with his bo staff, when the woman's entire body seemed to go up and flames and Robin was sure he was about to get a blast of flames to the face when suddenly the woman was doused in some sort of green liquid, and she fell to the ground with a small shriek before passing out from a blow to the head. Robin stared in shock at Red X, who was standing on a rotating, floating disk and holding what looked like a fire extinguisher, obviously he had been the one to put the fire out.

Red X dropped the canister next to the meta-human's unconscious form, and jumped off the disk just as it began to spark and fissile into a mass of melted medal. He landed with a thump next to Raven and said, "That voodoo healing crap you do won't heal the burns."

Raven narrowed her eyes and asked, "Then what would you suggest I do, these burns are horrible and could kill Beast Boy."

Red X pushed himself to his feet and said, "I've got something that can heal those burns but I want something in return."

Cyborg snarled, "It's your fault he got those burns in the first place!"

Red X crossed his arms with a wince and said, "Exactly, I kind of got enough people on my back right now, all I'm asking is, till I sort this all out you guys agree to a truce. I won't steal anything or break any laws and you guys stop trying to arrest me, at least till I sort out the whole bounty on my head business."

Starfire frowned and asked, "What is a bounty and why do you have it on your head?"

Cyborg tried to explain the concept to Starfire as Robin asked, "Why do you have a bounty on your head in the first place?"

Red X snorted and said, "Does the reason really matter boy wonder? Anyway, do we have a deal or what?"

Robin glanced at Beast Boy, who's chest was more black char then green flesh, and then at his team mates before nodding and said, "Alright, you have a deal, as long as you promise not to steal anything we won't try and arrest you, for now."

Robin offered his hand and Red X nervously took it, once they had sealed the deal with a firm shake, Red X turned to raven and asked, "Can you move him?"

Raven nodded and Red X said, "Good, it's just a little ways."

Red X started walking towards the edge of the rooftop and Cyborg snarled, "Where are you going?"

Red X turned and asked, "Do I look like I'm carrying medical supplies on me? We're going to a bunker I have a block and a half down."

With that Red X jumped off the edge of the roof, moving just slow enough for them to keep up easily as he leads them down and over till he gets outside a rundown looking apartment building with graffiti and bars on the windows. He waited for them to catch up, before opening the front door with a bump of his hip, he left the door open for them. The front hallway and stairwell he led them up was damp and drab and smelled like something had died, but the second floor hallway was surprisingly white and clean.

Red X led them to the end of the white hallway, to a single door with a very large plaque which instead of numbers had three X's. Red X pushed the middle one and the plaque spun in the wall to reveal a panel with a keypad. Red X ran his hands over the keypad hitting each of the numbers a dozen times, so fast not even Robin caught half of the code. When he was done he hit the pound key, and with a loud beep and a click, the door opened, revealing it was practically a foot thick and made of some sort of medal. The Teen Titans thought that was it, but then Red X hit several more keys then the pound button, and suddenly with a sputter several red lazars blinked in and out just inside the doorway.

Cyborg frowned and asked, "Was that really necessary?"

Red X laughed and said, "This is actually the least amount of security for any of my bunkers." When Cyborg gave him a disbelieving voice he added, "I'm a thief."

With that Red X marched into the room which after a moment lit up with its false electrical lighting, revealing a room big enough to rival the Titan's community room, only instead of a giant coach and TV, there was what looked to be sparring mats, there was at least one of every bladed weapon known to man, from a Swiss army knife to ten samurai swords with fancy cases. Instead of a kitchen, there was what looked to be a lab of some sorts, with different beakers and containers with strange colored liquids.

Red X walked over to the lab and with a press of a button somehow managed to pull a cot out of what looked to be a drawer. He turned to Raven and said, "You can set him down on that."

Raven raised an eyebrow but did as Red X said and laid the still unconscious form of Beast Boy onto the cot. Cyborg whistled at the weapons, Robin stood next to him evaluating a few of the weapons to discover that yes they had all been used and where not just for show, and Starfire hovered close to the door. Red X ignored them all as he pushed another button on one of the higher cabinets and this time another keypad appeared. Red X entered in several codes before finally there was a beep and the cabinet opened to reveal several vials of a glowing blue substance. Red X carefully grabbed one and closed the cabinet. Red X carefully turned and handed the vial to Raven saying, "Just a drop should be enough to completely heal him, but we should probably give him some morphine first. Is he allergic to any medications?"

Raven frowned and asked, "Are you serious? A single drop?"

Red X nodded as he pulled out a still sealed medical bottle of morphine and handed it over to Raven along with a syringe. Raven quickly got to work, but Robin asked, "Where did you steal this wonder drug from?"

Red X snorted and said, "It's hardly a miracle drug, it's mainly only effective on burns and certain lacerations that are cause from heat, it's also a drug that can only be used a dozen of times before the body builds up a tolerance for it. Also I didn't steal anything in this place."

Red X closed the cabinet he had pulled the morphine out of and walked over to a small door that none of the titans had notice. For the first time Robin seemed to noticed Red X's condition. He had thought the man was fine, since he had gotten up and saved him from the met-human, but he had a serious limp and when he listened closely he could hear a slight wheeze and see a slight wince every time Red X took a breath. It was also quite obvious that the flames had burnt through at large portion of the back of his uniform.

Red X had just reached for the handle of the door when Robin asked, "Are you okay?"

Red X froze up, not moving an inch, and finally after about a minute he shrugged and said, "I've had worse."

Red X once again reached for the door handle and once again froze in shock when Robin asked, "shouldn't you get your injuries looked at? I know you have at least one broken rib and you took a knife to the arm."


End file.
